The Ticket Collector

20% Off NXEC advance tickets, till 2nd Jan 08.

National Express the new owners of GNER have started a new promotion on their advance tickets purchased online via their website.

You can get 20% off advance purchase fares which can already be as low as £12.90 (London to Newcastle, and with the discount this would bring it to £10.20.

You must book by 2nd January 2007 and can travel between Saturday 29 December 2007 and Wednesday 19 March 2008 inclusive. There are limited advance tickets between Friday 8 February and Sunday 24 February.

You must book at least the day before outward travel. Seats are subject to availability, so please book early to avoid disappointment. The most popular tickets are for travel at weekends – if you can travel mid-week, you will have more choice and are more likly to get a cheap ticket.

Your ticket is only valid for the date, train and reserved seat shown on your ticket. Traveling on any other train then is on your ticket will result in you being asked to pay the full standard ticket which can be in excess of £100 single.

http://www.nxeastcoast.com/Special-offers/Over-one-million-advance-tickets/

Free off peak C2C rail ticket.

C2C are offering anyone in the UK, 18 and above, one FREE return ticket for travel anywhere on their network. We have checked the Terms and Conditions of this ticket and it is FREE, you also get entered into a draw to win a yearly season ticket. You need to fill in the form on their website before 29th Feburary and the ticket is vaild for one off-peak return journey on C2C only.
http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/we_ve_only_got_one_wish_on_our_list
The catch is they want your details such as name and address and Email address. You could just signup with a free Email company such as Gmail or Hotmail, claim your free ticket and then once you get the free ticket never use that Email again! http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/we_ve_only_got_one_wish_on_our_list

Please remember to link back to this page if you copy this onto any other site.

C2C Terms and Conditions
GENERAL: No purchase necessary. Entrants must be 18 years old or over.

FREE RETURN TICKET: The free return ticket is available to all passengers who complete an entry, whether online or paper based. It is valid for one return off peak journey anywhere on the c2c line and can be used up to and including Saturday 31 May 2008. One ticket per person registering with c2c. All free tickets will be posted to the contact address given on the entry form before Friday 29 February 2008. The ticket is valid for use by any person presenting it for travel on the c2c line before Saturday 31 May 2008. Not for use in conjunction with any other offer. Damaged, reproduced or photocopied tickets will not be accepted. No cash value and no refunds available. This offer is subject to availability. c2c National Conditions of Carriage apply

FREE ANNUAL SEASON TICKET PRIZE DRAW: All completed forms received, whether online or paper based, will be entered into a free prize draw. One entry will be drawn and the winner notified by post to the address given on the entry form. The draw will take place on Friday 29 February 2008. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Following confirmation, the winner will be sent an annual season ticket for travel on the c2c line. No cash alternative is available. Should the winner already hold an annual season ticket with c2c, the cost of the annual season ticket will be refunded following proof of purchase. Should the winner hold a monthly season ticket, the prize will constitute an upgrade to a full annual season ticket. Normal season ticket holder terms and conditions apply. Details of the final winner will be made available upon written request to c2c head office from Friday 7 March 2008.

Thanks to Suzy Scott for this.

Euston to Inverness sleeper hits object on track at 80MPH

Services between Carlisle and Inverness/Aberdeen/Fort William are subject to severe delays due to the sleeper hitting an object on the track near Beattock Summit at around 0315 this morning.

The train was moved to Carstairs station at 0940 GMT. First ScotRail said buses were taking passengers to Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William.

The train however remained upright throughout this incident and it is thought that there are no injuries reported.

Network Rail works commence on East Coast Mainline

Dont even think about trying to travel by rail this christmas!

The East Coast Mainline is completely closed betwen Hitchin, Stevenage and Knebworth. This is due to Network Rail replacing points at Stevenage.

NXEC trains will be terminating at Peterborough with a luxury coach transfer to and from London.
HullTrains mght be running between Hull and Retford with a coach transfer to and from London.
GrandCentral (haha) will not be running any trains until the 27th December (no surprise there then).

First Captial Connect services will berunning between London and Welwyn for bus connections for the North, and also between Peterborough/Cambridge and Hitchin.

Services should get back to normal on the 27th December 2007, that is if Network Rail dont overrun which is rumored to happen according to a member of Network Rail staff we spoke to today.

First Group bans hands free mobiles

First Group will ban employees from using mobile phones even with legal hands-free kits, from next year.

FirstGroup’s bus and train drivers are already banned from using them and this ban will extend to any staff on business.

The firm commissioned research which suggests talking behind the wheel can quadruple the risk of accidents.

The Transport Research Laboratory study found hands-free kits provided no safety advantage over illegally holding a phone while driving.

According to the research, a driver on the phone was more distracted than a driver who had drunk as much as the legal alcohol limit.

The risk of a crash was four times higher when the driver was on the phone, it found.

Civil servent jailed for conning London Undergound

A civil servent working for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was jailed for 18 months for conning London Underground of £22,000 by claiming fare refunds.

Trushar Patel, 30, roped in his family to fill out thousands of forms which enabled customers to claim a fare refund if they were delayed.

Sentencing the family Judge Peter Fingret said the case showed “a high level of incompetence on the part of Transport for London [TfL] and London Underground [LU]”.

“I can only comment and hope that these sentences may deter other people from obtaining cash benefits out of public funds illegally,” he said.

Prosecutor Francis Sheridan said the scheme was a “positive idea” but “the administration of this scheme was a complete shambles of Monty Pythonesque proportions”.

“No checks were carried out on the services claimed for let alone checks on whether they were late or how many of the given tubes were delayed on any given day,” he added.

£1 tickets from Virgin

Virgin have re-released their £1 mobitix offer. Tickets are printed at home and you must take your debit/credit card with you to proove it was you that purchased the ticket.

Tickets are available now and there are still some £1 singles left. Most tickets are now around the £7-£9 mark which is seriously cheap compared to the normal fare.
You can go from London to Manchester or Manchester to London.

Catch is you must print the ticket out at home and must stick to the train your booked on.

http://www.mobitix.thetrainline.com/VT/advancepurchase.aspx